Paper soldiers

by Clarence R. Wyatt

Ever since the end of the Vietnam War twenty years ago, many have held as an article of faith the idea that America's long and tragic war effort in Vietnam fell victim to a hostile press - a group of reporters and broadcasters ideologically opposed to U.S. involvement and determined to show its worst side in print and on television. This brilliantly researched and beautifully written book shatters that idea. By looking at twenty years' worth of newspaper, magazine, and television coverage of the war, and examining previously unused government and military documents, the author has reached a contrarian conclusion - that from nearly the war's beginning to its end, the U.S. government successfully manipulated the press to its own ends. From the government's side, the motivation was clear. As the Cold War heated up after World War II and the Iron Curtain descended across Europe, a curtain of secrecy descended on the United States. The threat from the Soviet Union justified, in the minds of